Paper feed device for printing business machines



June 6, 1950 c.'w. GEISHECK 2,510,626 PAPER FEED DEVICE FOR PRINTING BUSINESS MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet I Filed Aug. 20, 1947 INVENTOR. Char/es W. Gels/120k June 6, 1950 c. w. GEISHECK PAPER FEED DEVICE FOR PRINTING BUSINESS MACHINES Filed Aug. 20, 1947 3 Sheeis-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

June 6, 1950 c. w. GEISHECK 2,510,626

PAPER FEED DEVICE FOR PRINTING BUSINESS MACHINES Filed Aug. 20, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN TOR.

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Patented June 6, 1950 PAPER FEED DEVICE FOR PRINTING BUSINESS MACHINES Charles W. 'Geisheck, Detroit, Mich assignor to Burroughs Adding Machine Company, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Application August 20, 1947, Serial No.'769,641

4 Claims. (01. I'M- 133) This invention relates to an improvement in paper-feed mechanism for business machines. It has to do particularly with mechanism for feeding long or so-called continuous paper strips which are commonly supplied in rolls which may consist of either one strip or a plurality of strips wound together in the same roll. Double wound roll paper is used, for example, when it is desired that the machine on which it is used shall pro .duce a record on successive lengths of one paper stri which may be torn offor severed for presentation to customers or for other purposes, and a duplicate record shall be produced on a, second strip which is to be preserved for the use of the proprietor.

When feeding either single or double paper strips around a rotatable platen roller, there is generally a tendency for the paper to skew so that, as the platen roller rotates, the paper strip ""cree'ps laterally on the platen which frequently results in the paper encountering portions of the machine at one side or the other of its intended path and becoming torn and sometimes becoming jammed and causing annoyance and loss of time to. clear the mechanism of the torn and wrinkled paper. Also when two paper strips are drawn from a double wound single roll of paper and fed around a platen roller against which they are Pressed by feed rollers, slack will accumulate in one of the strips between the point where it leaves the supply roll and the point where it is gripped between the platen and feed rollers and, if such slack is not removed at frequent intervals, the slack paper strip folds and wrinkles as it passes between the platen and feed rollers and often causes tearing and jamming of the paper in the mechanism. Such formation of slack in one of the strips of paper drawn from a double wound supply r'oll results principally from the fact that the outermost of the strips of the double wound supply roll is longer and unwinds faster than the inner one of the strips. The difference in the rates of unwinding of the outer and inner strips of double wound .rolls increases as the diameter of the roll diminishes as the roll is used up. The accumulation of slack in one of the two strips may be influenced also by other tactors which difier in different structures.

An object of the invention is to provide simple and inexpensive means to eliminate objectionable creeping of long or continuous paper strips lengthwise of the platen roller.

Another object of the invention is to provide simple and inexpensive means to eliminate objectionable accumulation of slack in paper strips .drawn from double wound paper supply rolls.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the followin description of a preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a paper han-' dling structure of a calculating machine pro- Vided with the invention, certain parts of which, including a cover, are omitted; A

Fig. 2 is a right side elevation of the structure of 1; I

Fig. 3 is a fore and aft vertical section taken in a plane at the right-hand end of the paper supply roll;

Fig. i is a detail; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 1 but with the casing or closure members in place.

"In the drawings, the invention is illustrated as applied to a well known Burroughs portable calculating machine generally like that disclosed in Patent No. 1,853,050 to A. A. Horton. The machine chosen for purposes of illustration has a platen roller and paper feeding structure supported in a stationary frame or so-called stationary paper carriage on the upper rear portion of the machine. I

In the illustrated machine, the paper carria'ge," which is equipped to handle double wound roll paper, comprises right and left vertical end plates, 10 and Il, each having front and rear inwardly turned feet secured by headed screws and nuts or the like to a base plate l2 (Figs. '2 and 3) which in turn is secured as by screws or the like to the upper rear portion of the machine. The end plates l0 and I I are further interconnected and braced .by a transversely extending rear portion, of inverted V-section, of a paper guide member I3 (Fig. 3), and tie rods, such as M and Hi. The platen roller I6 is secured upon a shaft l1 journalled in the end plates Ill and i l The supply roll [8 of paper is rotatably supported on a rod l9 which is removably supported in upper rear extensions of the side plates 1 0 and II. From the roll l8, the paper strips 20 and 2! are led over the guide [3 and under the platen roller. l6 betweenthelatter and forwardly extending portions 22 of the guide !3 curved to conform to the cylindrical form of the platen. The paper strips are led further around the platen roller and between the latter and a tear-off blade 23 which is suitably supported on the side plates i0 and H.

A suitable ribbon mechanism which may be like that shown in the Horton Patents Nos. 1,853,050 and 1,690,487'supports a stretch of ink ribbon 24 between the paper strip 20 on the iorwardside of the platen and the type bars 26 to ink the impressions which the latter produce on the paper. To color duplicate impressions on the paper strip 2|, either the rear side of the strip may be carbonized, or a strip of carbon paper may be wound between the strips 20 and 2|, or a second stretch of ink ribbon (Fig. 1) may be employed, in which latter case, a double ribbon mechanism such as shown in the Racz and Cannon Patent No. 1,997,077 may be provided in place of the ribbon mechanism shown in the Horton patents.

The paper webs 23 and 2| are normally held in feeding relation to the under side of the platen by pressure rolls 21 positioned between the guide extensions 22 and supported on shafts 28 which are supported at their ends in the forward and rearward ends of cradle arms 29 which are notched on the under edges of their middle portions to be rockably supported on the pressure roll supporting rod 36 in spaced annular grooves formed in the latter. The rod 33 passes through a generally rectangular aperture 3| in the front lower portion of the side plate I I and is received in an inverted V-shaped notch 32 (Fig. 4) in the lower edge of the side plate II]. The right-hand end of the rod 38 is yieldingly held in the notch 32 by springs 33 and 34 connected at their lower ends to the right-hand end of the rod and at their upper ends to studs secured in the side plate I0 forwardly and rearwardly, respectively,

of the shaft IT. A spring (not shown) located on the left side of the side plate II similarly to the spring 33 urges the rod 30 forwardly and upwardly in the aperture 3|. Under the tensions of these springs, the pressure rolls 2'! yieldingly press the paper into feeding engagement with the platen roller.

Flat cuts are formed as at 35 (Fig. 4) in one side of the rod 36 in alignment with each of the plates ID and I I so that the rod 30 normally does not contact with the upper forward edges of the aperture SI and notch 32 and thus prevent the pressure rolls 2'! from pressing the paper against platen. The left end of the rod 30 is bent upwardly to form a finger lever 300 which the operator may rock forwardly when desired to cause the rear edges of the flats 35 on the rod 39 to cam the rod downwardly and rearwardly from the upper front edges of the aperture 3| and notch 32 to space the pressure rolls 21 away from the platen roller I6 when desired, for example, to facilitate threading of the paper webs from a new supply roll around the platen.

The usual platen twirler 36 is secured on the right-hand end of the shaft I! for manually rotating the platen to manually feed the paper when desired. Automatic line-spacing feed of the paper during machine operation is effected by means of a line-spacing ratchet wheel 31 secured on the platen shaft I'I on the right-hand side of the side plate I3 and engageable b the forward end of a line-spacing pawl 33 (Fig. 1). The pawl 38 is pivoted at its rear end upon a stud 39 secured in a lever pivoted on a stud 4| secured in and projected rightwardly from the right side plate Ill. The pawl 38 is urged clockwise (Fig. 1) into engagement with the ratchet wheel 31 by a spring 42 connected between the pawl 38 and a stud secured in the rear end of a lever 43. The lever 43 is pivoted at its forward end on a stud 44 secured in the upper front corner of the side plate Ill and carries a roller stud 45 which the spring 42 urges against the teeth of the ratchet wheel 31 whereby the platen is yieldingly held against unintentional rotation. The low r end of the lever 40 carries a roller stud 46 (Fig. l) which is positioned in a notch in the upper end of the lever 453 (which corresponds to the lever 331 of the Horton Patent No. 1,853,050) which is rocked first rearwardly and then forwardly by power in each operation of the machine whereby the line space pawl 38 is drawn rearwardly in an idle movement, then returned forwardly in each operation of the machine to rotate the platen and advance the paper strips a line space in each machine operation.

It is normally intended that, after each transaction or group of entries is recorded upon a portion of the paper strip 20, such portion of the latter is to be torn off over the edge of the tearoff plate 23 either to be handed to the customer or utilized in some other desired manner. The duplicate strip 2|, however, is intended to be preserved as a continuous complete record of the work performed on the machine. The strip 2| passes over a plate 41 which may serve as an autographic table and is pivotally supported by lugs 48 at its lower front side corners engaging in apertures in the side plates Ill and I I to permit the plate 41 to be swung forwardly to facilitate insertion of a new paper supply. Rearward rocking of the table 41 is limited by engagement of rearwardly turned edge portions 49 thereof against the upper edges of the side plates ID and II. The table 41 may be latched in its normal rearward position by engagement of a stud 50 (Fig. 2) on the inner side of the rearwardly turned lefthand edge portion 9 thereof by a latch 5| operated and controlled by a key operated lock, indicated generally at 52, which will be referred to again hereinafter.

From the upper edge of the table 41, the paper web 2| passes rearwardly over a guide plate 53 the forward edge of Which is mounted on the upper rear edge of table 41 by a hinge 53 (Fig. 2). Movement of the rear end of the plate 53 down-- ward beyond its normal position is prevented by engagement of the plate against a lug 54E) extending from the forward member of the hinge. From the rear edge of the plate 53, the web 2| passes downwardly to a take-up roller 55 comprising a hollow cylindrical portion closed at its right-hand end and rotatably supported on a spring-pressed retractable stud 56 carried in the right-hand one of a pair of arms 51 extending rearwardly from a bracket 58 having forwardly bent portions secured on top of the rear feet of the end plates i3 and by the screws or the like which secure those feet to the plate I2. The

; left-hand open end of the take-up roller removably fits upon a keyed hub of a pulley and ratchet wheel assembly 32, I3 rotatably mounted on a stud carried in the left arm 51. Within the hollow cylindrical portion of the take-up roll 55 is loosely positioned a piece of relatively heavy tubing 59 (Fig. 3) which aids in frictionally securing the end of the tape 2| to the take-up roller 55 when the end of the tape is inserted through a slot 60 in the roller 55 at th time of staring a new supply of paper.

The take-up roller 55 is automatically driven in the paper winding direction by means of a coil-spring belt 5| passing around the pulley |52 (Figs. 2 and 3) secured on the left end of the take-up roll 55, said belt also passing around the left end of the platen roller IS in a groove 63 cut therein. The belt is engaged by an idler pulley 64 rotatably supported on the rod I4 in an aperture in the paper guide I3 and is also engaged by an idler pulley 65 rotatably supported yi'sions'were made to take up such slack.

at-ropes 5 on a stud carried by a lateral lug 6'6 bent upwardly from the left side of the bracket 58. The ratio of diameter of the platen 1 6 to the diameter of the bottom of the groove therein is less than the ratio of the diameter of the take-up roll 55 to the effective diameter or" the pulley 62, 'so that, as the platen is rotated in the paperieed'ing' direction with the pressure rollers 2.! pressing the papers into feeding relation to the platen, the tape '21 between the platen roller l6 and the take-up roller 5'5 is pulled taut, and the lower stretch of the coil-spring belt ti between the take up roller 55 and the platen I15 is tension'ed. The friction characteristics of the belt BI and pulley 82 and the initial tension of the becomes so great as to cause danger of breakage of the paper strip 21.

It will be apparent that after a certain amount of line space rotation of the platen, the portion "of the tape 21 extending from the front feed roller 21 to the takeup roll 55 will be taut although, for reasons hereinbefore pointed out, that portion of the tape 21 extending from the supply roll 18 to the rear feed roll :2 would be slack as indicated'by the dotted line -H in Fig. 3 if no pro- In accordance with the present invention, however,

all slack in the tape 21 between the supply roll 18 and the rear feed roll 2'5 is automatically periodically taken up before it can accumulate to any amount sufficient to-cause difliculty. For this purpose a lever 12, pivotally supported on the stud 41 has its forward end '58 bent leftwardly right-hand end of the pressure roller supporting A rod 36 downwardly against the tension of the right-hand springs '33 and 3 3 whereby the pressure rollers 27 are retracted from the platen sufficiently to permit the accumulated tension in the lower stretch of the coil spring belt 6| to slide the paper tape 2| around the platen to remove any slack existing in the tape 2| between the platen and the supply roll [8. As the leverM] returns forwardly the right hand springs 33 and 34 return the pressure rolls 2'! into engagement with the platen. The proportions of the ratchet 3'! and pawl 35 and their movements are such that the rollers 21 again press the paper into feeding engagement with the platen before the line space movement of the platen by the forwardly moving pawl 38 commences. That is, the pawl 38, in the rearmost portion of its movement, moves substantially rearward of a tooth of the ratchet 3'! without slipping past the next tooth so that in the first part of its forward movement, while the rolls 2'! are returning to normal, the pawl 38 moves idly before efiecting driving engagement with a tooth of the ratchet Bl.

As the tape 2| is thus pulled around the platen I 6 to take up any slack therein, it is also straightened in its path around the platen so that any creeping of the tape laterally of the platen which might result from extensive rotation of the platen with the pressure rolls 21 in feeding engagement therewith will be prevented.

' To prevent unnecessary and undesirable .unwinding of thesup'ply roll 1-8 when the tape 21 is pulled around the platen by the belt 6|, a frictional brake 'for the supply roll 18 is provided in the form "oi av plate '15 (Fig. 3) which is loosely supported on the rod 19 and provided with studs 1-8 and 19 projecting into bushings 1'6 and 11 secured on the inner side of the end plate .I l. A coiled tcompressionspring 8i! surrounds the bushing 11 between the left face of the plate 15 and the right tace of the plate H to press the plate 7 5 into frictional braking engagement with the left end face of the supply roll It.

The tape 2! wound on the take-up roller 55 is protected against unintentional injury as well as unauthorized access by a cover member tl'l (Fig. 5) pivotally mounted on rearwardly turned lateral portions 3.2 or the lower end of the bracket 53. The forward portion of the left-hand wall of the cover .8! carries the key operated lock 52 so that neither the table 4! nor the cover 8! may be moved from normal position except by the proprietor .or other person having possession of the key for the lock 52.

Retrograde movement of the take-up roll 55 is prevented by a pawl 67 (Figs. 2 and 3) pivoted on a stud on the inner side or the left-hand arm platen which might tear the tape 2'! is prevented by the pawl 38 and ratchet .31.

' An auxiliary cover member 83 (Fig. 5) to on- .close the portions of the line spacing mechanism located on the right-hand side of the plate I0, is secured to the right ends of the studs 4| and 44 as by headed screws passing through the cover member 83 and threaded into the ends of the studs M and 44.

It will beapparent to those skilled in the art that the invention may be applied to various forms of paper handling structure for various types of business machines. It may also be employed in paper handling mechanism used with various kinds or forms of multiple papers such, for example, as the so-called fan-folded or super-folded paper supplies. To those ends, the structure is susceptible of variation and modification within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a paper feeding mechanism for printing business machines having a rotatable platen roller around which a plurality of thicknesses of paper are passed, paper pressing means to press the papers into feeding relation to the platen roller, said pressing means being movably mounted for movement toward and away from the platen roller, yieldable means to urge the pressure means toward the platen roller, and means to drive the platen roller step by step to feed the papers; a member automatically moved by operation of the machine, and an actuator element for said member, said member being arranged to engage a portion of said pressing means when actuated by said element and during its movement to first move said pressing means away from the platen roller to release said papers from feeding relation to the platen roller and then release said pressing means to permit the latter to again press said papers into feeding relation to said platen, and said element being arranged to then actuate said means to drive the platen roller to feed the papers prior to the termination of the movement of said element.

2. In a paper feeding mechanism for printing business machines having a rotatable platen roller around which a plurality of strips of paper are passed, paper pressing means to press the paper strips into feeding relation to the platen roller, said pressing means being movably mounted for movement toward and'away from the platen roller, yieldable means to urge the pressure means toward the platen roller, means to drive the platen roller step by step to feed the paper strips, paper take-up means including means to tension a portion of at least one of said paper strips which has passed around and beyond the platen roller, and means to drive said tensioning means; a member automatically moved by operation of the machine and engaging a portion of said pressing means to move said pressing means away from the platen roller to release said paper strip from feeding relation to the platen roller to permit said tensioning means to move said one of the paper strips relative to the platen roller.

3. A paper feeding mechanism for printing business machines having means supporting a supply roll of multiple-wound paper strips, 9, rotatable platen roller around which a plurality of strips of paper from said supply roll are passed, paper pressing means to press the paper strips into feeding relation to the platen roller, said pressing means being movably mounted for movement toward and away from the platen roller, yieldable means to urge the pressure means toward the platen roller, spacing means to drive the platen roller step by step to feed the paper strips, a paper take-up roll to wind up the portion of at least one of said paper strips which has passed around and beyond the platen roller, means to drive said take-up roll, said driving means including a yielding power-storing means urging said take-up roll to advance to a greater extent peripherally than said platen, and a member automatically moved by operation of the machine and engaging a portion of said pressing means to move said pressing means away from the platen roller to release said paper strips from feeding relation to the platen roller and permit said yielding means to rotate said take-up roll to advance said one of the paper strips relative to the platen roller and tension the portion thereof between said platen roller and said supply roll.

4. A paper feeding mechanism for printing business machines, comprising means to support a supply roll of multiple-wound paper strips, a platen roller around which a plurality of strips from said supply roll are passed, the strip outermost on said supply roll being innermost on said platen roller, a pressure roller, movable means to support said pressure roller, means acting on said supporting means to press said pressure roller against said paper strips to press the latter into feeding relation to said platen roller, mean to rotate said platen roller step by step in one direction to feed said paper strips, means to hinder reverse rotation of said platen roller, a takeup roll to wind up a portion of the strip which has passed innermost around and beyond said platen, an elastic belt driven by said platen roller and driving said take-up roll, and tending to advance the periphery of said take-up roll to a greater extent than the periphery of said platen roller advances whereby unequal tensions are produced in portions of said belt by paper feeding and winding rotations of said platen roller and take-up roll, and a member moved automatically by operation of the machine and acting on said pressure roller supporting means to retract said pressure roller from said platen, to release said paper strips from feeding relation to said platen roller to permit said belt to advance the take-up roll and pull the strip innermost around the platen roller relative to another of said strips to equalize the lengths of the strips between the supply roll and platen roller.

CHARLES W. GEISHECK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,482,160 Stevens Jan. 29, 1924 2,074,097 Winter Mar. 16, 1937 2,118,700 Crosman May 24, 1938 2,216,081 Kniehahn et al. Sept. 24, 1940 

